NORTHAMPTON - In what amounted to a ringing condemnation of the Northwestern District Attorney's office, Judge John A. Agostini has ruled that a Boston Globe reporter and lawyers for Juvenile Court Clerk-Magistrate Christopher D. Reavey may not be ordered to appear before a grand jury.

Agostini's rulings, which were issued Thursday, included strong language about the way Elizabeth D. Scheibel's office has handled the affair that has come to be known as "Pottygate."

In particular, the judge suggested that information revealed during an open hearing last month amounted to a "public ambush" of Reavey by the Commonwealth.

As recounted by Agostini, the Northwestern DA's office ostensibly convened a grand jury to investigate the alleged theft of a bathroom key from a locked office in the Hadley courthouse where the Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court convenes. Reavey became a subject of the investigation for allegedly authorizing a court officer to retrieve the key.

The case took on a new dimension after The Republican and The Boston Globe published stories about the grand jury investigation.

Scheibel, asserting that the Globe story was based on impounded information, subpoenaed reporter Jonathan Saltzman. David P. Hoose and Luke Ryan, who represent Reavey, were also ordered to appear before the grand jury to reveal what they knew about how the material was disseminated.

Agostini allowed Saltzman's motion to quash his subpoena and denied the Commonwealth's request to summons Hoose and Ryan before the grand jury. The parties argued their positions before Agostini in an April 14 hearing in Hampshire Superior Court. Scheibel named Essex First Assistant District Attorney John T. Dawley to oversee her case, saying that her office had a conflict of interest because it was a potential victim.

File photo/The RepublicanElizabeth D. Scheibel

At that hearing, Dawley said that the underlying motive for the grand jury was to investigate Reavey for supposed favoritism in handling juvenile court matters. In a lengthy footnote to his ruling, Agostini expressed astonishment at the allegation.

"I did not anticipate that the Commonwealth would, at a public hearing, for the first time, inject either grand jury secrets or investigatory information into the discussion," he wrote. "Such information should have been disclosed... at a closed hearing... rather than resorting to a public ambush."

Moreover, Agostini cast doubt upon the substance of the allegation, saying that it "appears to be more for public consumption that for the issues of this motion. In any event, this information had a hollow ring."

Neither Scheibel nor Dawley could be reached for comment Thursday. Boston lawyer Max D. Stern, who represents Hoose and Ryan, issued a statement calling the effort to bring them before a grand jury "a gross abuse of power."

Stern went on to say, "Most outrageous of all was the lame effort to impugn the integrity of Reavey, a man of impeccable integrity, in a transparent attempt... to manufacture an after-the-fact pretext to justify a colossal waste of time and taxpayers' money in a dispute which was, after all, about a bathroom key."

In granting Saltzman's motion, Agostini affirmed the reporter's First Amendment right to protect his sources.

"The Court finds that Saltzman has easily cleared this hurdle," Agostini wrote, adding, "If he is compelled to testify about the source of his information... his other sources will no longer trust him."

Agostini ruled that summonsing Hoose and Ryan before the grand jury would violate attorney-client privilege, potentially pitting their interests against Reavey's. In addition, Agostini wrote that the information in question was never legally impounded and that it's disclosure could not violate any grand jury secrecy.

Reavey and Hoose both referred to Stern's statement and declined further comment. Neither Saltzman nor his lawyer, Jonathan M. Albano, could be reached Thursday.